Ezekiel
22
- The word of the LORD came to me:
- "Son of man, will you judge her? Will
you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable
practices
- and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD
says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and
defiles herself by making idols,
- you have become guilty because of the blood
you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have
brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore
I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all
the countries.
- Those who are near and those who are far
away will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.
- "'See how each of the princes of Israel
who are in you uses his power to shed blood.
- In you they have treated father and mother
with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless
and the widow.
- You have despised my holy things and desecrated
my Sabbaths.
- In you are slanderous men bent on shedding
blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.
- In you are those who dishonor their fathers'
bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are
ceremonially unclean.
- In you one man commits a detestable offense
with his neighbor's wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law,
and another violates his sister, his own father's daughter.
- In you men accept bribes to shed blood;
you take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors
by extortion. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
- "'I will surely strike my hands together
at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.
- Will your courage endure or your hands be
strong in the day I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.
- I will disperse you among the nations and
scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness.
- When you have been defiled in the eyes of
the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.'"
- Then the word of the LORD came to me:
- "Son of man, the house of Israel has
become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside
a furnace. They are but the dross of silver.
- Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD
says: 'Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
- As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead
and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so will I gather you
in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.
- I will gather you and I will blow on you
with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.
- As silver is melted in a furnace, so you
will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out
my wrath upon you.'"
- Again the word of the LORD came to me:
- "Son of man, say to the land, 'You
are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.'
- There is a conspiracy of her princes within
her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures
and precious things and make many widows within her.
- Her priests do violence to my law and profane
my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they
teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they
shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among
them.
- Her officials within her are like wolves
tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.
- Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them
by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign
LORD says' -- when the LORD has not spoken.
- The people of the land practice extortion
and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien,
denying them justice.
- "I looked for a man among them who
would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land
so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
- So I will pour out my wrath on them and
consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they
have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."
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